How will PH adapt to majority EV?
Discussion
I suppose the name "Piston Heads" is itself an issue - no hiding the fact that the future is very much piston-less..
But beyond that, at what point does the EV sub-section of the forums get sacked off and EV car discussions just get lumped in with any other type of car? I don't recall there being a diesel specific sub-section when diesel (turbo) power suddenly became of age and challenged the age old view that proper cars only ran on petrol.
Are we missing the point here? Does the form of propulsion even matter? Surely the main factors in buying a car form a 'PH' pov remain performance, comfort, style, spec etc.
Just playing devils advocate... but might it not be progressive, interesting and perhaps even informative to not side line what is new, but to instead put in the pool with all other cars?
Debate
But beyond that, at what point does the EV sub-section of the forums get sacked off and EV car discussions just get lumped in with any other type of car? I don't recall there being a diesel specific sub-section when diesel (turbo) power suddenly became of age and challenged the age old view that proper cars only ran on petrol.
Are we missing the point here? Does the form of propulsion even matter? Surely the main factors in buying a car form a 'PH' pov remain performance, comfort, style, spec etc.
Just playing devils advocate... but might it not be progressive, interesting and perhaps even informative to not side line what is new, but to instead put in the pool with all other cars?
Debate
It will simply become (more) of a niche interest site!
Today,lets face it, most cars are already nothing to do with being a "pistonhead". How many interesting posts do you see about Vauxhall Insignia's or nissan micra's? Not many. Car enthusiasts and PH will become more like Fox and Hounds or Traction Engine Monthly, ie focused on a much small range of cars, cars that are interesting, fun, and engaging. Some will be BEV's, but most will be classic and performance ICEs i think.
Today,lets face it, most cars are already nothing to do with being a "pistonhead". How many interesting posts do you see about Vauxhall Insignia's or nissan micra's? Not many. Car enthusiasts and PH will become more like Fox and Hounds or Traction Engine Monthly, ie focused on a much small range of cars, cars that are interesting, fun, and engaging. Some will be BEV's, but most will be classic and performance ICEs i think.
I read the front page articles of Pistonheads, follow the F1 and the Le Mans threads and use the TVR section as a great reference / source of entertainment.
I've now ordered an EV so will also visit the EV and Alternative Fuels section to see if there's anything interesting here
I don't believe that will change just because the majority of people here own EV
I've now ordered an EV so will also visit the EV and Alternative Fuels section to see if there's anything interesting here
I don't believe that will change just because the majority of people here own EV
Jag_NE said:
I think the forum will die before ICE becomes the niche interest. Forums don’t really appeal to youngsters.
Whist this is true, I think there's plenty of people in their 40s on here who will presumably be driving for at least another 30 years, and in 30 years' time ICE will be a niche interest. Pistonheads will however by then be completely full of grumpy old men, rather than mostly full of them.
kambites said:
Jag_NE said:
I think the forum will die before ICE becomes the niche interest. Forums don’t really appeal to youngsters.
Whist this is true, I think there's plenty of people in their 40s on here who will presumably be driving for at least another 30 years, and in 30 years' time ICE will be a niche interest. Pistonheads will however by then be completely full of grumpy old men, rather than mostly full of them.
It's an interesting question by the OP as to when EVs no longer belong in a sub forum but just in the normal forum. Has to happen towards the end of this decade.
Is it critical that most EVs are disposable kitchen style goods on wheels? I can't see that as an issue. Most petrol cars are just transport boxes and have been for a hundred years but we drive them yet enjoy discussing the few genuinely interesting cars.
As for forum format, this style is already immensely dated but still attracts people who almost weren't born when this type of forum was created. As a discussion format it does work well and it's dated, clunkiness probably deters the full blown junk spewings of other media. Maybe it will endure?
kambites said:
DonkeyApple said:
It's an interesting question by the OP as to when EVs no longer belong in a sub forum but just in the normal forum. Has to happen towards the end of this decade.
At the rate the market is evolving, I'd say the next couple of years!90% of car replayed media might be about EVs. But let's not forget that after a decade of sales in the U.K. we've only just hit 1% of all cars being EVs on the road. That's still very niche. All the EVs on the roads matches all the Range Rovers.
So the question is how many will there be in a few years? Say 3? Well, that is categorically defined not by the number of press releases or blog posts but simply by how many new cars Britons buy each each which is a pretty fixed 2m and only varies traditionally due to GDP. What percentage of this 2m in 2022 will be EVs? Let's be crazy generous and say 50%. We know it's going to be nowhere near 50% but we will probably get to 50% before the end of the decade so it's only a matter of time. 50% over the next three years would result in 3.5m EVs on the road. That's about 8-10% of the cars on the road. Still pretty niche. Its a larger number than BMW about the same as Vauxhall and a lot less than Ford. All sub forums.
We're not likely, in reality, given the rate of new car purchases is what defines this rate of change to even be hitting 50% of the U.K. fleet being EV by 2030. That would require every new car from today to be an EV, plus forcing all new car buyers between now and then to buy two cars at a time not one.
I accept that the absolutely monumental media hype that completely flies in the face of reality and gives this completely false impression that everyone is rushing to buy EVs and that no one is buying ICE will not find the powers that be at PH resistant to this distortion and have an impact on when the EV su forum is blended into general gassing but in a few years there will still be bugger all EVs on the road. We're at the absolute infancy of this steady and slow switch over and it's not the media that defines the pace but ourselves and our 5% vehicle renewal rate and what percentage of that 5% will be EVs. Today we are still basically at zero but this year is the first year that you can visibly see the change overtly taking place.
Is it Pistonheads that needs to change, or is it just that despite EV's being capable of great performance, there's just nowhere to use it anymore because speed cameras, lot of traffic, slow drivers, EV drivers eaking out best performance etc, so we're just becoming a nation of a-b drivers. Thats why younger drivers enthuse about the 'toys' in the cabin rather than performance.
It's still transport. A car still makes the most sense in this country for most journeys (cost/time vs public transport), just that the discussion points will change. After all we still gets discussions about Tesla build quality
etc, so we're just becoming a nation of a-b drivers. Thats why younger drivers enthuse about the 'toys' in the cabin rather than performance.It's still transport. A car still makes the most sense in this country for most journeys (cost/time vs public transport), just that the discussion points will change. After all we still gets discussions about Tesla build quality
TheDeuce said:
I suppose the name "Piston Heads" is itself an issue - no hiding the fact that the future is very much piston-less..
But beyond that, at what point does the EV sub-section of the forums get sacked off and EV car discussions just get lumped in with any other type of car? I don't recall there being a diesel specific sub-section when diesel (turbo) power suddenly became of age and challenged the age old view that proper cars only ran on petrol.
Are we missing the point here? Does the form of propulsion even matter? Surely the main factors in buying a car form a 'PH' pov remain performance, comfort, style, spec etc.
Just playing devils advocate... but might it not be progressive, interesting and perhaps even informative to not side line what is new, but to instead put in the pool with all other cars?
Debate
Cars are cars, handling, ride, design, spec etc will still be talking points for years to come with EVsBut beyond that, at what point does the EV sub-section of the forums get sacked off and EV car discussions just get lumped in with any other type of car? I don't recall there being a diesel specific sub-section when diesel (turbo) power suddenly became of age and challenged the age old view that proper cars only ran on petrol.
Are we missing the point here? Does the form of propulsion even matter? Surely the main factors in buying a car form a 'PH' pov remain performance, comfort, style, spec etc.
Just playing devils advocate... but might it not be progressive, interesting and perhaps even informative to not side line what is new, but to instead put in the pool with all other cars?
Debate
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